Italian Neighbours: An Englishman in Verona

Sheer brilliance! Tim Parks has an utterly realistic outlook on the romantic ideal of settling in Italy as a foreigner. He clearly loves the country he has chosen as his home, but remains exasperated by its bureaucracy and its peculiar cultural quirks. This non-fictional tale reads like a novel. It is full of dark humour, cynicism and a touch of the epicure. I was sent this book as I struggled through a year's study in Italy, wondering what on earth had made me go there. The insights offered by Tim Parks allowed me to accept my Italian experience for what it was, 'a package deal.' My copy is battered, underlined in places and thoroughly appreciated. My Italian friends hate it, mostly because it is so accurate. I am very disappointed to see it is now out of print. It should be required reading for anyone who is going to Italy!

I would like to talk about a book I enjoyed very much, Italian Neighbours by Tim Parks. It is a collection of all the "Italian Experiences" the author made while living in Montecchio near Verona. Being Italian, I found it really amusing and very interesting, because it tells about all the innocent manias we have. It was interesting to see how weird and exotic, if I may say that, some of our typical habits may seem to a foreigner; I mean, sometimes you realize some things are a bit weird and you laugh at them yourself, but sometimes you just cannot realize, because you grew up with that and it is normal for you.The book is a bit old, so some things have changed slightly, especially in politics (well, not that they have improved anyway), but, you know, people and things change in 15 years...Everything is described with that sort of light irony that is a chracteristic of the English sense of humour, and I enjoyed every bit.A lot of the things he notices are still there, though, as if they were buried very deep into the Italian soul: well, I know a load of "car worshippers", my aunt is a cleaning freak and so on.I think what has improved most, at least as far as I know, is the relationship to our pets. The author is shocked for the way people treat their dogs (and rightly so), but now many people changed their minds about animals in the house, and the way they should be treated. I let my cats sleep on my bed and know a lot of people that do too. It is increasingly becoming a true "love affair", even if there are still some people (and I would really like to meet one) that throw away their dog, because they are going on holiday and it is too much of a fuss to take it with them! Mr.Parks is amazed at the quantity of moped and small vehicles he sees sprinting around, well, I never really took notice of it, before some foreign friends told me: we drive like maniacs!Some of the things he notices about bureaucracy are the same ones that make us crazy all the time, especially because of their uselessness, even if the situation has improved a bit in the past few years.I laughed out loud when I read the description of the flat they were going to live in, he said the furniture was awful and "coffin-style" and, having visited many a house in that style I couldn't have found a better definition!Well, I don't want to spoil your amusement telling you everything, in case you decide to have a go. All I can tell you is that the descriptions are always very detailed, but not heavy or lengthy, just the essentials to make you "see" what he means. I don't always agree with the things he notices, but maybe it is just because he lived in the Veneto and I live in Piedmont; it seems just a small distance, but the way we think and behave is very different (though not as much as between the noeth and the south). I found it even more interesting for that reason, I got to know how it is living over there.I enjoyed the book so much that I finished it in two days, so now I am read

I found this to be the most successful of the "ex-pat" books I have read. Parks has chosen to live in Italy, and has both a love and respect for his wife's homeland, and another cultural perspective with which to look at its foibles and frustrations. Unlike Peter Mayle who seemed in A Year In Provence to be laughing AT some of the locals, and who was somewhat removed from daily life, Parks is fully immersed in everyday, workaday life, and in raising children, getting to know and battle with bureaucracies, admiring education systems etc. And unlike that great phoney Frances mayes, the Tuscan dilettante who jets in each summer to dabble in cute stone-villa Italy, Parks has to come to terms withh being a 'local' whist still being a straniero.

I've lost count of the times I've revisited Tim Parks' adopted home village of Montecchio and enjoyed his highly entertaining prose describing everyday life among his Italian neighbors. This little book is an absolute treasure, indispensable reading for everyone who loves Italy and Italian culture, warts and all. His observations on Italians and their ways are intuitive and honest, infused with the author's obvious affection for his subjects. One of my all-time favorites.

Parks is able to do what so few people (even those of us who are Italian) can: understand Italy and the people who live there. This is a marvelous account of life in Italy which can be appreciated by every armchair traveler. He is funny and insightful, and in describing those around him, he allows his reader to understand the not so subtle aspects of Italian behavior. I highly recommend AN ITALIAN EDUCATION, which picks up where this leaves off. This book might be preferable for those who appreciate a more straight forward account, rather than the books by Frances Mayes, which employ more figurative language.